SWIMMING
FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Sajan fails to qualify for men's 100m butterfly semifinal
Indian swimmer Sajan Prakash failed to qualify for the men's 100m butterfly semifinals at the FINA World Championships at Budapest on Sunday.
Sajan clocked 54.39 in heat 3.
The top 16 swimmers have qualified and Sajan ended up at the 42nd spot. Hungary's Kristof Milak topped the table with a timing of 50.68
-Team Sportstar
Gold for Srihari, Mihir and Aneesh in Singapore National swimming
Olympian Srihari Nataraj, Mihir Ambre and Aneesh Gowda struck gold in the 17th Singapore National swimming championships at the OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore, on Thursday.
National record holder Nataraj clocked 55.32s for the 100m backstroke gold while Ambre produced a personal best 24.66s for the 50m butterfly title. Meanwhile, Gowda won the 800m freestyle gold in 8:14.08s.
In the women’s section, Olympian and national record holder Maana Patel bagged the 100m backstroke silver.
-Stan Rayan'
VK Pahuja bulletin released by former Sports Minister Jitendra Singh
The 42nd edition of the VK Pahuja swimming bulletin was released by the former Union Sports Minister Jitendra singh here on Thursday.
The 450-page bulletin, spread into six interesting sections, has been compiled with diligence by Mr. VK Pahuja’s daughter Dr. Meenakshi Pahuja.
It is a precious reference book for all swimming followers as it has the local, national and international records. It also has a compilation of all the Indian swimmers who represented the country in international competition over the last 50 years. It has many articles by doctors, lecturers and swimmers.
Dr. Meenakshi, a presidential Nari Shaki Puraskar awardee, is a long distance swimmer, and serves as the Associate Professor of Physical Education at the Lady Shri Ram College.
VK Pahuja had served Indian swimming and water polo for many decades and was a member of the International Swimming statisticians Association.
Jitendra Singh lauded Dr. Meenakshi for sustaining the great work of her father, with suitable support from her brother Priyank Pahuja and sister Dr. Supriya Pahuja.
The Vice Chancellor of PDM University, Prof. AK Bakshi and the former international swimmer Sita Ram Sawoo were the guests of honour at the function.
Many swimmers were felicitated and he efforts of many others were appreciated. Special mention was made of Delhi’s Kushagra Rawat who is currently training in Hungary.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
FOOTBALL
Indian women's U17 football team suffers 0-7 defeat against Italy
India's Under-17 women's football team suffered a humiliating 0-7 defeat against Italy in the opening match of a four-nation tournament at Grandisco D'lsonzo stadium in Udine.
The Thomas Dennerby-coached side started off the match by trying to press the opposition high up the pitch and entice mistakes from it.
Tackles were flying in from both sides and it was Italy, which was awarded a free-kick in the fourth minute. Beatrice curled the free-kick but she narrowly missed the target.
Italy almost took the lead in the 10th minute as Dragoni had just Indian goalkeeper Monalisa to beat but the latter stretched and produced a wonderful save to deny the Italian.
However, India's resistance soon lay in tatters as just one minute later, Maria Rossi put the ball into the back of the net.
In the 22nd minute, Monalisa was again called into action by Dragoni, but the former again parried the ball out for a corner.
India came the closest to scoring on the half-hour mark when Anita tried a long-range effort to catch the Italian defence off-guard but her shot missed the target by a whisker.
The floodgates opened after that as Anna Longobardi and Giulla Dragoni scored in the 31st and 33rd minutes, respectively, to give the Italians some much-needed cushion.
In the 36th minute, Kajol missed the target by a whisker as India trailed Italy by a 0-3 margin at the half-time break.
Italy picked up right from where they left off in the first half as Manuela Sciabica scored in the 48th minute.
Couple of quick-fire goals followed after that and within 15 minutes of the second half, Italy had extended their lead to six goals.
Dennerby made some changes in the 60th minute as Neha, Rejiya, Babina and Pinku came on for Nitu, Lynda, Kajol and Shelja, respectively. Marta Zambomi scored the final goal of the game in the 67th minute as she stretched Italy's lead to 7 goals.
On an exposure tour, the Indian team will compete in two tournaments to gear up for the U-17 women's World Cup in India during October-November.
-PTI
HOCKEY
Indian junior women's hockey team beats USA 4-1
The Indian women's hockey team recorded a comprehensive 4-1 victory over the United States in the U-23 5-Nation tournament here on Thursday.
Annu (49th, 52nd) netted a brace, while Nikita Toppo (48th) and Vaishnavi Phalke (58th) scored one goal each for India.
Hannah Miller (46th) scored the lone goal for the Americans.
The Indian team got off to a fast start, winning the first penalty corner of the game inside 10 minutes. Although it didn't translate into a goal, India made its intentions clear as it tried to attack early in the game to grab the lead.
Despite its best efforts, neither India nor the United States was able to break the deadlock as the first quarter came to an end.
India took charge early in the second quarter and was rewarded for its efforts when it won its second PC. However, the United States' defence held firm and prevented India from converting it.
After that, the USA mounted a counter-attack, which resulted in its first penalty corner of the game, but it did not result in a goal, forcing both teams to enter the half time break with no advantage.
Similar to the first and second quarters of the game, India and the USA fought it out to control the pace of the game in the third quarter without producing any clear opportunities.
The final quarter turned out to be the most exciting as both teams scored all their goals in the last 15 minutes.
- PTI
TABLE TENNIS
83rd National Junior Youth Table Tennis C'Ships: Payas Jain defends title
Delhi's Payas Jain warded off a stiff challenge from team-mate Yashansh Malik 2-11, 11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6 to defend his title in the Youth boys under-19 category in the 83rd National Junior and Youth Table Tennis Championships at the N.C.John Memorial YMCA TT Arena in Alappuzha on Thursday.
Qualifier Bodhistawa Chaudhhay (Bengal) upstaged sixth seed Preyesh Raj Suresh (TNTTA) 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 10-12, 11-5, 13-11 to win the boys under-17 title.
The battle between the two Delhi lads and familiar foes went to full distance. Yashansh started well, winning the first set easily as Payas repeatedly netted his backhand returns. However, the top seed soon found the range of his attacking shots and galloped away with the second and third sets.
Yashansh crawled back to draw level and had the momentum on his side when he won the sixth set and led 5-3 at the changeover in the final set. However, Payas unleashed a flurry of forehand shots to push Yashansh on the backfoot. Yashash crumpled under pressure and made a few unforced errors to hand over the match to Payas.
Bodhistawa Chaudhary played a tactical game to outwit Preyesh Raj Suresh in the boys under-17 final. Bodhistawa managed to prevent Preyesh from using his potent weapon, the backhand, and forced his opponent to play to his strengths. Preyesh after a good start faded away against the aggressive Bodhistawa. Time and again, Bodhistawa unsettled Preyesh with blistering forehands and held the whip hand in the rallies as an error-prone Preyesh stumbled.
-Praveen Chandran
TENNIS
Tennis Project Baliawas : Bhamidipaty beats seventh seed Misaki Matsuda of Japan to reach pre-quarterfinals
Shrivalli Bhamidipaty fought her way past seventh seed Misaki Matsuda of Japan 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Tennis Project in Baliawas on Thursday.
On a particularly hot day, Shrivalli showed the patience and the willingness to battle it out, even when the flow of the contest was not in her favour.
In the quarterfinals, Shrivalli will face Punnin Kovapitukted of Thailand who took two hours and 41 minutes in beating qualifier Vineetha Mummadi 7-6(4), 6-1.
Eighth seed Karman Kaur Thandi had her share of trouble but continued to serve hard and blast her forehand in beating Sowjanya Bavisetti 6-3, 6-2. In the quarterfinals, Karman will face Vaidehi Chaudhari who sustained her good game that had helped her despatch third seed Ankita Raina in the first round. Vaidehi overcame a hesitant start to beat Humera Baharmus in straight sets.
The top half was packed with foreign players, with top seed Diana Marcinkevica, Sofia Costoulas, Saki Imamura and Anna Ukolova making the quarterfinals.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Oeiras Challenger tennis tournament: Arjun Kadhe loses doubles quarterfinals
Arjun Kadhe in partnership with Jamie Cerretani was beaten 6-3, 2-6, [10-5] in the doubles quarterfinals by Sanjar Fayziev and Evgeny Karlovskiy in the €45,730 Challenger tennis tournament in Portugal.
Kamesh Srinivasan
SHOOTING
20th Surendra Shooting C'Ships: Olympian Gupreet Singh bags gold
Olympian Gurpreet Singh won the 25-metre standard pistol gold in the 20th Kumar Surendra Singh shooting championship at the Madhya Pradesh Academy in Bhopa.
Vijayveer Sidhu and Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar bagged the silver and bronze medals.
In the junior section, the Sidhu twins, Vijayveer and Udhayveer won the gold and silver.
The last event, the finals of men’s, juniors and youth air pistol are scheduled for Friday.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
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